


Not A Puppy

by MageWriter



Series: Something Just Like This [8]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Clexa makes an appearnace, F/F, Shapeshifters - Freeform, Super Soliders, Werewolves, werecreatures
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-18 08:36:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29855442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MageWriter/pseuds/MageWriter
Summary: Illegal human experimentation was just one moremark against her brother.Pity she hadn't managed to tear his throat out when she got the chance.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Series: Something Just Like This [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1509659
Comments: 8
Kudos: 86





	1. Set Up

**Author's Note:**

> Freak Flag – Shrek the Musical
> 
> I’m Alive – Becca (Black Butler closing theme)
> 
> I am Here - Pink
> 
> What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger) – Glee Cast
> 
> I own nothing. A little different from the others, but certain scenes from this wouldn’t leave me alone.

Lena moaned as she twisted over onto her stomach, stretching out muscles as they finished realigning themselves into their proper positions. There was a distinct taste of raw rabbit on her tongue.

“Damn you Lex,” she cursed under her breath as she always did. Her vocal cords weren’t all human yet, her voice more growl than human.

Her brother, shortly before his final confrontation with Superman, had been researching the creation of super soldiers. He (or one of his little minion scientists) had stumbled upon a way of combining animal DNA with human. Only a handful of species were genetically compatible, and the humans had to have specific genetics and mental capabilities as well, but that was no deterrent to her brother.

Lena had stumbled upon the research (and the list of failed experiments with the deaths attached, both from the subjects and the people they had killed in their madness). She would have turned her brother in on that alone, but that file had led her to others.

Lex had discovered not just her searches but the file (one of them) she had been compiling on him and everyone else involved. He had decided not just to end her, but to punish her. He had used her as one of the final subjects, probably expecting it to either kill her or drive her into the rage driven madness that had caused so many of the subjects to be put down.

That had failed. Rather spectacularly, the darker parts of her mind always mused with a sinister enjoyment. If Superman hadn’t taken him down, Lena would have eventually ripped his throat out. Since it was only a matter of time before he managed to escape in order to cause more chaos, she would probably get that chance.

Standing, she shook herself. The skintight leotard had held this time, so at least she wasn’t naked in the middle of the woods. As she moved towards the small cabin she had for just this purpose, her body stopped hurting and her reactions to stimuli became less animal.

Jess was waiting for her with a car and a fresh change of clothes. Her assistant was one of only a tiny handful of people who knew about her monthly activities. Lena was, given some of the things Lillian had said, certain her mother knew. Sam knew, since her CFO was the one who stepped in to cover anything that needed a direct hand while Lena was off running about on four legs. Lex and his little crew knew, but most of them were dead and her brother in prison as a mad-man.

The other survivors of the experiments knew, but then Lena employed them and provided safe havens for them to change. She had not yet been able to reverse the process, but so far the changes did not appear to spread through any sort of biological exchange. As no children had been born yet, that avenue of research had remained unexplored. That wouldn’t last and she already had plans in place when it did.

“Ms. Luthor,” Jess got her attention, “I have next month’s projections for you to view on the way back to the city, and your breakfast is on the counter.”

“Thank you Jess, give me a few moments to shower and I will be ready to leave.” She took the bag containing her clothing and disappeared into the bathroom.

“Ms. Danvers has expressed deep concerns over your absence.” Jess informed her once Lena had emerged fully dressed to go into the office. “Supergirl has as well. With Mrs. Luthor’s antics, we will need to come up with a better cover story.”

“What has my mother done now?” Lena rubbed the bridge of her noise, pushing down every instinct to simply end the threat. She refused to give into the beast within her; only madness lay in that.

“For now, just her normal.” Jess informed her. “There have been a few underhanded threats in regard to this, and the appropriate parties have been informed. Several have argued for a more direct handling, but so far cooler heads have prevailed.”

“Maybe involving Supergirl wouldn’t be a bad move,” Lena mused, enjoying the salad Jess had brought her. After three days of nothing but meat, it tasted better than ever. Jess was through, so Lena knew there was some kind of pastry waiting in the car.

“I already have the file ready,” Jess said in response. She had long decided that if Ms. Danvers was going to be around, then such information would be needed. She kept it in a biometrically locked drawer in her desk. No one but her could open it. Her boss wasn’t the only paranoid one.

Lena smiled, not surprised in the least. Leaving the cabin, her driver and the woman’s partner were waiting for them. The blonde was painstakingly braiding the brunette’s hair while the darker woman ate.

“Dr. Griffin, Ms. Woods,” Jess nodded to them.

“Hi Jess, Lexa this would go faster if you stayed still.” Clarke looked over. “Hi Ms. Luthor, was your run alright?”

“It was, thank you. Yours?”

Clarke laughed. Her own hair was still more than a little wild. “Wonderful, at least until this one decided to chase after some raccoons.”

“Stupid runts,” Lexa grunted, finishing the veggie wrap Jess had left for her. “Clarke, you still have leaves in your hair.”

“Yes, but I’m not expected at work until this afternoon.” She finished pinning her partner’s hair into place. “There.” She set Lexa’s cap on her head. “And you ate both wraps, which means I get all your donuts.”

“Hey!” Lexa, heedless that her employer was mere feet away, tried to stop her lover from doing as threatened. The giggling Clarke dodged her, scooping up the box of pastries and dashing away.

Lena twitched, but her ingrained stoicism kept her from joining the chase. Last night, with the beast free, was different. Her driver/bodyguard and on-staff doctor had no such compunctions. If not for the time crunch, both might very well have shifted once more and taken off back into the forest.

“Children, play time is over.” Jess said firmly, although there was a smile tugging on the edges of her mouth. “I will have the full list of check-ins by lunch.”

She got them moving again. Lena didn’t know what she would do without Jess. The woman was an absolute life saver.

* * *

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Jess currently had a headache. People had been in and out all day with various complaints and demands. None of this was made easier by the no less than _three_ assassination attempts.

It was barely one in the afternoon. Police and ‘FBI’ had been in and out all morning. Supergirl had attempted (and failed) to get Lena to go somewhere else for the rest of the day. Jess fully expected Kara to return within the next hour to set up camp in Lena’s office.

Unfortunately, they would have to work around everything in order to get out of town for the next three days. Today was their last day to prep everything. Several had already left, meaning a number of Lena’s more discrete bodyguards were currently off-duty.

Jess’s thought process was cut off as Kara exited the elevator carrying several large bags of food and a tray of drinks.

“Hi Jess.” The blonde smiled at her. The blonde then began to unload Jess’s favorite Italian takeout from one of the bags along with several KitKat bars (her preferred candy bar, and Kara had included several Green Tea flavored), a bottle of ibuprofen, two bottles of water, and a coffee that Jess didn’t need to take the lid off of to know was her favorite blend. “I thought that with everything happening, you might need lunch. I brought Lena some as well. Is she free now or?” Kara fidgeted a little.

“She’s free,” Jess moved aside so Kara had a clear path. “And thank you, Ms. Danvers, for lunch.” She glanced at the bottle of pain relievers.

Kara felt her lips twitch but managed to keep from smiling to widely. “You’re welcome.” She entered Lena’s office.

Lena looked up, smile already spreading across her face at the sight of her blonde best friend. No matter what her day had been like, Kara was always able to brighten it. She stood, moving around her desk to meet Kara half-way.

“Kara,” she took in the taller woman’s scent, allowing it to comfort her and sooth the agitated wolf. “You are a life saver.”

Kara grinned, wrapping her friend in a tight hug. “I’m glad you’re okay. Supergirl said you’d been hit?” Kara knew this already, but had to be certain Lena was actually going to take care of herself.

“It was just a mild sedative,” Lena assured her ( _again_ , she really should let Kara know that she knew). “Your sister already checked, and a sample went to both our labs. I’m perfectly alright.” She eyed the bags hungrily. Kara had brought them Big Belly Burger.

That was exactly what she needed after her day so far. So close to the full moon (and how her brother had managed _that_ little trigger she had yet to figure out) it was much more satisfying than her regular salad. It was a little concerning (with moonrise still several hours away) that her inner beast was so close to the surface but she attributed it to the stress of the day.

Honestly, it would be much easier if she could simply shift and take care of things that way. Once more she shoved those thoughts aside. With Kara there it was easier.

Happily, the pair took their normal seats on the couch and divided the food between them. After her first bite, Lena wrinkled her nose.

“Is everything okay?” Kara paused in her eating, moving to set her burger down. It tasted normal to her and nothing smelled off about what Lena was eating.

“It’s fine,” Lena opened the bun and began removing everything that wasn’t meat or cheese. Conscious of her friend’s preferences, Kara always got her the ‘healthy’ burger (avocado, onion, tomato, lettuce, basil-kale pesto mayo, whole grain bun) with extra tomato and grilled well done with turkey bacon in place of regular. “The effects of the sedative must be messing with my tastebuds.”

Kara nodded slowly. “Okay.” She picked another topic (movie night for when Lena got back from her trip).

Lena listened as Kara chattered away between burgers. She managed to reign in the desire to savage her meal, but just barely. She eyed one of Kara’s remaining burgers, ones that had never touched a vegetable. Timing it just right, she managed to snatch one and laughed at Kara’s protests.

“You could have just asked!”

“Darling, would you have willingly given it to me?” Lena meant it as a tease. Kara didn’t share food once she had staked her claim on it. The CEO had witnessed the blonde wrestle her sister over the last of anything.

“For you, yes.” Kara crossed her arms and pouted. Of course she would share her food with Lena! The woman hardly ate enough as it was. “Maybe not potstickers,” she mumbled, blushing.

Lena laughed, but kept the burger. After eating it, she settled back into the couch.

She felt…almost languid. Like both her belly and her beast were hunt-satisfied.

“Lena?” Kara asked, concerned when her friend’s heart began to slow. “Lena?” She reached out to touch the CEO’s shoulder. She knew she should have insisted that Lena stay at the DEO.

“Kara?” Lena murmured, confused on why she was so foggy.

Pain ripped thru her, forcing her to cry out as her body jerked off the sofa.

“Lena!” Kara reached for her, determined to gather her friend up and carry her to the DEO.

“No!” Lena swatted her hand away, crying out in pain again before her brain blacked out.

Kara stepped back as Lena continued to thrash. Lena couldn’t hurt her, but the woman could easily break herself against Kara. She was forced to watch as Lena… _changed_.

In place of her supposedly human best friend, a creature from one of Alex’s horror movies began to emerge.

Clothes shredded, bones and muscles snapped and shifted. Fur sprouted and spread across pale skin, quickly covering it in a dark coat.

In the quiet that settled as the change ended, Kara knew her reaction was the opposite of sensible.

“Puppy!”

She knelt down and began to rub the creature Lena had changed into between the ears. “Who’s a good puppy? Oh, you’re so pretty! Yes you are!” She ignored the growling and began to rub beneath the wolf’s chin. “So soft.”

The wolf growled, insulted. She was 190 pounds of ferocious killing machine! She tried to get up and throw the person who dared to…to… _cuddle_ her.

Kara wrapped her arms around the wolf and tugged the creature into her lap so she could better pet the animal.

“Pretty girl, good girl!” Lena had some explaining to do, but for the moment Kara was to enraptured with the thought that her friend could turn into a giant puppy.

She tried to escape, to get into a better position in which to teach this person just who was in charge when Kara hit just the right spot.

Oh…oh that felt nice. She settled down, twisting to encourage Kara to keep stroking that spot. Then Kara found more of them and the growls became less menacing.

“So pretty and soft, good girl, yes you are,” Kara continued.

“Ms. Danvers, I- oh my!” Jess froze.

The Wolf twisted, teeth bared and growling at the interloper. She whimpered when Kara gently tapped her muzzle.

“No! Bad Puppy! We don’t growl at Jess!” Kara tugged her back down, finding one of the spots that made her melt. “Jess, I think you should call my sister.”

“I will,” Jess nodded, mentally adding several others to that list. “But first,” because there was no way Lena was going to fire her. She pulled out her phone and took a picture. “I will keep everyone else away from the office.”

“Thank you Jess.” Kara watched her leave. Yep, Jess knew she was Supergirl. Anyone else would have tried to encourage her to move _away_ from the furry murder beast. Then again, anyone else would not have been able to drag a full grown wolf back down into their laps like a pillow either.

If Jess knew, then Lena probably did as well. Which…meant what exactly Kara wasn’t certain.

“Lena,” she continued to stroke the pleased sounding animal, “Lena, you are a very beautiful wolf, but can you change back?”

The wolf looked at her as if it didn’t understand what she was speaking about.

Oh Rao…this could get messy. Alex would want to cage her for everyone’s safety (including Lena’s).

“Ms. Danvers,” Jess came back into the office, this time only raising an eyebrow at her boss when Lena growled. “I realize this may not be the best time, and Ms. Luthor will have a much better time explaining this after the full moon, but if you could please take her to this location,” she held out a piece of paper.

Kara got up, patting Lena on the head. She took the paper from Jess, swinging around and down to catch the wolf before it could try and maul one of them. Jess took a step back.

“This is not normal behavior for her.” Jess didn’t like feeling scared of her boss, but having a giant wolf lunge at you didn’t inspire much else.

“Okay,” Kara nodded as she reached a decision. “I’ll take her here and keep watch until?”

“Monday, Tuesday at the latest.”

“Right.” Kara could worry about everything else after she was certain Lena would be okay. Then she might just freak out over it, but it could wait. “Come here girl, there’s a good girl. I know, you probably hate flying even more like this but it’s the best way.”

Jess watched as Kara first changed into Supergirl (she knew, but now she _knew_ ), then gently picked up Lena in wolf form like a baby and leave via the balcony.

What even was her life at this point?

Nothing in the job description had included werewolves and superheroes.

* * *

Kara did as she said and kept a diligent watch over Lena. She had been a little startled when Lena’s driver and personal doctor had arrived along with a few others just before sunset, but hadn’t had a chance to greet them before they had changed as well.

A few wolves like Lena, but there were three bears of various sizes and six big cats. Once changed, they had separated and gone different ways. Some in groups (the wolves), pairs (all of the cats had apparently paired off), or singles (the bears). Kara checked in on Lena as frequently as she dared, carefully so as not to startle any of the others.

Lena, for her part, kept returning to the cabin as if she were checking to see if Kara was still there. She wasn’t certain, but she thought that as time went on, more of _Lena_ came out of the wolf.

Alex wasn’t happy with her disappearance, but what else was Kara supposed to do? If Alex had suddenly changed into a large wild animal, Kara would be doing the same for her.

Monday dawned and everyone else returned to human form. Lexa and Clarke came to check on their boss after everyone else returned to the city.

“It’s disconcerting,” Clarke summed up once Kara had finished explaining what had happened in Lena’s office. “There shouldn’t be anything that…” she trailed off. “Lexa, you don’t think?”

“I ripped his throat out personally,” Lexa said softly, touching her mate’s shoulder gently. “Ms. Luthor and Raven wiped out every computer at the facility. You know what was kept and just how much security surrounds those files and research. We would have been alerted if any of it had been leaked.”

“I know that, but what if that wasn’t the only facility?” Clarke pressed. “Or I know their focus is on aliens, but what about CADMUS?”

“Jess said she’s already looking into it with Alex,” Kara tried to reassure the other blonde. “Alex said this isn’t the first time the term ‘super soldier’ has come to the DEO. They won’t let this go anywhere outside National City.”

“Still not entirely comfortable with the thought of any government having this information,” Lexa said, a hint of a growl in her voice. “If someone’s found something that can not only force a transformation but keep us transformed…”

“You’re still human,” Kara was quick to say. Her mind whirled as she thought of something. “We can register everyone as an alien with the DEO, or at least a descendant.” There had been stories on Krypton of races who could sift to other forms, races and planet that had fallen into legend and myth. Who was to say that it wasn’t possible for it to manifest this way?

The genes were always there, they just needed a trigger. Whatever Lex’s scientists had done had been that trigger. The AI or the Fortress would have the relevant information, and J’onn might have his own myths from Mars to add in.

Clarke relaxed a little at that. There were laws, now, that would protect them should they decide to go that route. There were no such laws for escaped lab experiments.

“We’ll go in and keep order,” Lexa said into the quiet that had settled between them. “Clarke can assit Agent Danvers and the other lab rats in finding a reversal.”

That decided, they went their separate ways. Kara remained at the cabin long enough to change out of her suit before heading out into the woods.

“Hey girl,” she greeted softly once she found the large wolf.

Lena looked up at her blonde and whimpered. Why was she still shifted? The sun was up and the draw of the full moon was gone.

“Oh Lena,” Kara tugged her friend into her arms. “It’s okay. We’ll figure it out. You’re okay.” She searched for and found one of the spots she had discovered Lena liked having scratched.

Lena melted into her friend. She would need to talk to Kara about her reaction, and about calling her a puppy. She was a lot of things, but a puppy certainly wasn’t one of them.

She pointedly ignored the way her tail was moving or the pleased rumbling coming from her chest.

* * *

A pained scream broke the early morning silence.

Kara jerked awake, tumbling off the bed. She looked for Lena, who should have been sharing the bed with her. She hadn’t been able to leave her outside the night before, not when she was only wolf in form and not in mind. (Lena had tried to read the newspaper yesterday afternoon and get on her phone.)

On the other side of the bed, Lena was mid transformation. She was sobbing, voice rough as she cried out while her body changed back two days past when it should have.

“Why…hurt…shu…shou…shouldn’t…hurt!”

The transformation hadn’t hurt this bad since the first time. It still hurt, everything was rearranging, but it was closer to strained muscles and bruises than this blood boiling pain.

Unlike the office, Kara didn’t hesitate this time. She carefully picked Lena up and held her.

“I’ve got you,” she rocked the other woman. She tried to find the spot right behind Lena’s right ear that she had like having touched as a wolf. She rubbed it softly. “I’ve got you, it’s okay, I’ve got you. Good girl.”

“Not a puppy,” Lena grit out, pressing against the bands of Kara’s arms as her body continued to contort and rearrange itself.

“I know,” Kara replied with humor, “you’re a big scary wolf. You’re still a good girl.”

That…that really shouldn’t make her as pleased as it did. She relaxed as the pain began to fade and her body settled. Kara just held her, occasionally rubbing _that_ spot.

Lena didn’t know how long it had been, but eventually it occurred to her that she wasn’t wearing her leotard. She stiffened. Kara sighed.

“Do you want to shower?” She asked softly. She liked holding Lena. Maggie’s words drifted through her mind again and Kara gave up fighting them.

The worst Lena could do, after all, was not return her feelings. Which, if Maggie were to be believed, wasn’t going to be the case.

“Yes,” Lena said after a moment. She was covered in grime and nearly a weeks’ worth of forest. That didn’t even account for what else she might be covered in, considering painful transformations often meant blood.

“Okay, Jess sent your bag up with Lexa. It’s waiting for you in the bathroom.” Kara loosened her hold.

Lena whimpered before she could stop herself. She blushed, hard. It had the opposite effect on Kara.

“Did I hurt you?” By the way Kara was looking at her, Lena guessed that the other woman was checking her over with x-ray vision.

“I’m alright Darling…just naked, and a little cold.”

“Right, humans care about that,” Kara said, probably not realizing she had said the latter part aloud as she moved to tug the blanket up and wrap it around Lena.

That was a thought to think on, but not right now. Lena huffed, settling back down against Kara. Apparently she wasn’t as ready to move as she thought she had been.

“We have a lot to discus,” Lena murmured.

“Alex wants to know how long you’ve known so she and Maggie can settle the betting pool.” Kara replied. “Jess refuses to answer.” She sighed. “How long have you known?”

“Darling, I’ve known since you walked into the room with Clark Kent. You confirmed it when you saved me from the crashing helicopter.” Lena rested her hand against Kara’s shoulder. “Even in human form, my sense of smell is very strong.”

Kara sighed again. “Now I’m curious as to what the purpose of your detection device was.”

“Oh, _that_ ,” Lena snorted. “The design was something Lex left, but the tech itself is nothing more than a way to draw sample material for testing. The light goes off as a signal for when enough material has been gathered.”

“So even if I had touched it without frying it, it still would have been green.”

“Exactly,” Lena sighed as she relaxed further, her beast growling in contentment as Kara’s scent surrounded her. “It was cute though, how intent you were on protecting your identity.”

“It’s not just mine, it’s everyone I care about,” Kara said after a moment, “and that includes you Lena.” She shuddered. “I didn’t think anyone but Alex could cause me that much worry, but you do.”

“Believe it or not, that thought did occur to me,” Lena told her, voice sharp.

“I know,” Kara rocked them. “I want to help, Alex and Eliza are already helping Clarke look at all the data and figure out just what in that compound you were dosed with caused this.”

Lena remembered every moment of the last six days, three of them were she shouldn’t have been transformed at all against her will. Four of those day, she had been a prisoner in her own mind as the wolf maintained complete control. Kara’s presence had calmed the beast, partly because Kara completely ignored the fact that a wolf was not a dog and the rest due to the fact that Lena was in love with the alien woman.

“No more secrets then?”

Kara took a breath and let it out slowly. “No more secrets,” she agreed. This would be a time to be blunt, wouldn’t it?

“I’m in love with you.”

Lena moved so she could look at Kara. “What?”

She was naked, bloody, smelled terrible, and there was that annoying taste of raw rabbit on her tongue. Her hair was a tangled mess, she was pretty certain she still had fangs in place of human incisors, and the last thing on her mind was making a love confession.

“I’m in love with you,” Kara repeated. “I didn’t want to admit it because you’re my best friend and why would I want to ruin that? And now I’ve made you uncomfortable, haven’t I?”

“More like irritated,” Lena replied. “I can’t kiss you with my mouth tasting like raw rabbit.”

It was Kara’s turn to be stunned. “What?”

“Wait here.” Lena got up and went into the bathroom.

After concluding that Lena would be a bit, Kara got to work cleaning up the bedroom and herself. By the time Lena had finished in the bathroom (and feeling more human than wolf), Kara had food ready in the kitchen and was dressed for the day.

“Come here,” Lena commanded, drawing Kara to her. She frowned, glancing down to see that both of them were barefoot. Without her heels, she was shorter than Kara. That was a change from being eye-to-eye.

“Here,” Kara lifted her onto the counter, “better?”

“Much,” not hesitating, she dragged Kara forward by the blonde’s t-shirt and kissed her.

Kara squeaked, eyes wide in surprise, before carefully returning the kiss. Alex would tease her forever if she broke Lena’s nose while kissing the CEO.

“I love you too,” Lena said when they separated, “in case you missed that.”

“Didn’t miss it,” Kara started kissing her again.


	2. Things begin to Thicken

Lena decided flying wasn’t so bad when it was done with her girlfriend. She still didn’t enjoy it and was glad to set foot on her balcony. Neither was dressed in a way Lena would deem appropriate office attire, but Lena doubted there was anyone in the building who would dare to comment. With a quick breeze, Kara was out of her suit and back in the jeans and t-shirt she had chosen earlier.

Alex was waiting for them.

“Nice to see you out of the fur Luthor,” Alex greeted. “Can I have my sister back now please?”

“Alex!” Kara admonished the older woman even as she hugged her. “Be nice. I’m not mean to your girlfriend, you can’t be mean to mine.”

“You threatened to throw Maggie into the sun, wait,” Alex shook her head, “girlfriend?!”

Kara nodded, a wide smile on her face. “Yep! And my girlfriend’s cooler because _mine_ can turn into a wolf.” She looked inordinately proud of that fact.

Lena had to cover her mouth to stifle her giggles. Agent Danvers looked utterly flummoxed, as if she weren’t certain what her brain should be trying to process at the moment. Lena figured it would be just her luck to fall in love with the sort of person who would find lycanthropy (she didn’t know, really, what else to call it) ‘cool’.

Alex groaned. Maggie was going to be smug for days about being right. Not just about Lena knowing, but about what their pair’s relationship status would be upon their return. At least this time there wasn’t any money riding on the outcome.

“Whatever,” she finally decided, “we’ve got more concerning things going on right now.”

Kara stepped back. “What’s happened now?” Her hand reached back for Lena’s, her body relaxing when her girlfriend took it.

“Two things,” Alex motioned for them to take seats as Jess came in with drinks and a stack of files, “and you’re going to want to sit for this.”

Exchanging looks, the pair took their regular seats on the couch. If they were a little closer together than usual, Alex said nothing about it. The older woman took the armchair, arranged to face them from its typical position.

Looking at them, Alex wished she had better news.

“First, we’ve isolated what was in the sedative that caused the reaction it did.” She held out the first file. “A stronger dose and it would have triggered an instant transformation. The low dose, mixed with the sedative and a very low concentration of wolfsbane, was triggered into full potency by the burgers.” She turned her attention to her sister. “How set are the things you bring Lena for your lunch dates?”

“Not really set at all, but Lena always prefers more protein right before her trips.” Kara didn’t see any reason to change what Lena had termed the time during a full moon. “This time it was Big Belly Burger, the time before that was the gyros from Padma’s, and the time before that was the kebob platters from Jetson’s.” She frowned. “The difference was this time, you took off the veggies.”

“They tasted weird,” Lena wrinkled her nose. “Normally they don’t bother me, in fact after a transformation we all crave something that isn't meat. Before, Kara is correct. Those of us who transform into strict carnivores do find ourselves craving higher levels of protein as near to that of our beasts’ preference as we can find. As omnivores, the bears and badgers have a more balanced diet.”

“Weird how?” Alex asked. “Like when you’re a kid kind of weird or the food was off kind of weird?”

“The first option,” Lena said after a moment to think about it. “I have tried to eat both raw and cooked fruits and vegetables as a wolf, but they simply don’t appeal.” She shrugged at the looks on both their faces. “Contrary to this last shift, there is typically less mental change. I was perfectly aware this time, I simply couldn’t control anything.” That was not _entirely_ true, but it wasn’t something easily explained.

How the animal instincts and the human mind interacted was both fascinating and very _in the moment_. That aspect made it difficult to break it down to hard science. Perception, things that were important, the order of those things, it all changed. Often, if it was not of immediate importance then the beast simply didn’t care.

Alex smirked. “So you were aware the entire time Kara was treating you like an over-sized puppy?”

Lena closed her eyes and cursed to herself. The security cameras would have recorded everything (a safety feature to try and prevent any further frame-up jobs), and she was pretty certain she remembered Jess taking a picture. Kara at least (when Lena dared to look) had the decency to be blushing. Alex just had a shit-eating grin on her face.

“What was the second thing?” She asked Alex, wanting to move away from the topic.

Alex sobered. “Lex has managed to escape. We don’t know where he is or what he’s planning.”

Lena closed her eyes and growled.

He would have come up with something like this in order to escape.

She really should have ripped his throat out when she had had the chance.

Oh no, she had had to go and do the noble, _human_ thing and let him face justice for his crimes. Now that it had failed (honestly, she had expected it before now), she may just get the chance to rectify that mistake. He would be coming after her, and Kara, and anyone associated with either of them.

She could not, would not, allow him to harm her pack.

Lena felt Kara lace their hands together.

“We’ll get him,” she said firmly once Lena opened her eyes to meet the blonde’s, “We’ll get him and this time he won’t get out of the hole we put him in.”

Alex nodded in agreement with her sister. “Those files your people shared with us puts him firmly in DEO jurisdiction. We get him, and he’s ours.” Her smile was in no way kind.

Lena almost wondered if ripping his throat out would be kinder than whatever Alex had planned.

“Well then, let’s get started.”


End file.
